Halloween to haunt your TV long after the holiday
Halloween just ain't what it used to be -- on TV or in real life.
Maybe it's just that Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year. The hump-day midweek calendar date certainly doesn't help drum up a lot of excitement. But Halloween just isn't the TV holiday it once was.
There was a time when "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was just the beginning of the Halloween specials and fright festivals. Yet, now it's one of the few still on the major broadcast networks when it gets its annual airing at 7 p.m. today on ABC's WLS Channel 7.
Anyone who reacquaints himself or herself with it tonight will find, once again, that it's actually the beginning of the end of the "Peanuts" TV specials, where Snoopy and his crowd-pleasing fantasy life begin to take over. Although there's still plenty of the caustic, original "Peanuts" charm in details such as Charlie Brown's treats ("I got a rock") and Linus' rueful thoughts on the Great Pumpkin ("I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin"), it's just not as good as the earlier "Peanuts" Christmas special.
Still, there isn't a whole lot else on the broadcast channels in the way of Halloween TV -- unless you're willing to get up at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to watch "The Haunted House" episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" on WGN Channel 9 -- and I'd have to say that one's probably not even worth setting the DVD recorder or VCR for. (Do people still have VCRs?)
A notable exception, however, might be tonight's episode of "Reaper," airing at 8 on Channel 9. It turns out the Devil doesn't like Halloween, because he thinks it makes fun of him. So who takes the brunt of his abuse? Sam, his lost-soul reaper of souls, that's who. It has the makings of a Halloween classic.
Even so, it only draws attention to the absence of the greatest Halloween TV episode ever: the "Halloween" edition of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In that one, the so-called Scooby Gang dresses in costume to escort a bunch of trick-or-treaters, only to discover that the costumes are cursed and turn them into the characters they're imitating. Ergo, in a brutal bit of feminist satire, Buffy, the slayer of demons, suddenly becomes a mousy 18th-century heroine, while Xander, thank goodness, takes up the slack by becoming a courageous soldier. It's a brilliant bit of TV, and you'd think somewhere there'd be a place for it -- at least on cable.
Indeed, FX is still running "Buffy," but at 6 a.m. Saturday, and "Halloween" didn't run last weekend and it won't run next weekend. Of course, due to conflicts with the World Series, Fox won't run the annual "Treehouse of Horror" installment of "The Simpsons" until next weekend, either, at 7 p.m. Sunday, to be precise, on WFLD Channel 32. That's simply more proof of how Halloween has been pushed to a back burner.
David Boreanaz, who starred in that "Halloween" episode of "Buffy" as Angel the vampire, tries again with a Halloween edition of "Bones" at 7 p.m. today on Channel 32, but its actual connection to the holiday, concerning a body found in a pumpkin patch, seems tenuous. It's not likely to draw any revelers away from ȯˆ¿Ã‚ˆ½"The Great Pumpkin," anyway.
Otherwise, Halloween viewers are simply going to have to find solace with what's out there. AMC runs a "Halloween" movie marathon starting with John Carpenter's 1978 original at 9 a.m. Wednesday, while FX runs the more recent "Halloween: Resurrection" and "H20" starting at 6 p.m. Turner Classic Movies has a bunch of second-tier horror classics beginning at 5 a.m. Wednesday, focusing exclusively on Boris Karloff after 7 p.m., but no "Frankenstein" or "The Bride of Frankenstein."
In the way of highlight specials, Bravo has "100 Scariest Movie Moments" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when even E! gets in the act with the more tawdry "20 Most Horrifying Hollywood Murders." But really, you'd have to be pretty desperate to settle for those.
Yes, Halloween is all but dead as a TV holiday, and it shows no sign of coming back to life -- although when it falls on Friday next time around, with the leap year, that could be its last chance.
In the air
Remotely interesting: "My So-Called Life" is out in a "Complete Series" DVD package today. It's one of the most overrated shows in TV history, but it's there if you want it.
NBC News anchor Brian Williams is the moderator in a debate between the Democratic candidates from Drexel University in Philadelphia at 8 p.m. today on MSNBC. … Valerie Plame Wilson is the guest on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" at 10 p.m. today on Comedy Central.
End of the dial: WLIT 93.9-FM has scrapped Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated show and reinstated Melissa Forman as morning host. In a refreshing bit of candor, Vice President of Programming & Operations Darren Davis said, "I obviously made a mistake in replacing Melissa a year ago, and the ratings have suffered. To be frank, I simply underestimated Chicago's love for Melissa."
The one-name disc jockey Sundance has jumped from WGCI 107.5-FM to its Clear Channel Radio sibling WVAZ 102.7-FM as overnight host from midnight to 5 a.m. weekdays.